Weakness
by DazzledByNorrington
Summary: Little alien people want Spock. How far will they go to get him? And what will they do to him? New Chapters Added!
1. Chapter 1

_Captains Log, Stardate 2135.7 _

_We have happened upon a curious planet, inhabited by squid-like peoples who live in a climate most similar to Earth's. Each squid-like person has eight tentacles ending in a soft round pad and their skin is a greenish-blue. Dr. McCoy plans on examining them more closely during our stay here._

"Odd creatures. Slow heartbeat, no language from what I see, no need to eat or sleep, a very childish brain…" McCoy looked at the squid-man, who was in the corner of the room playing with his stethoscope. "However, it has unnaturally fast reflexes; the tentacles can reach twice their normal length, they can secrete some sort of fluid from its skin, and it can turn itself invisible." Almost as if to show off, the creature did, leaving only a stethoscope floating in midair.

"Fascinating, doctor."

At the sound of Spock's voice, the squid-man turned visible and started to slither towards him.

"Oh, no, you don't!" McCoy snatched the squid-man up and placed it on the table.

Spock was indifferent. "I will report your findings to Captain Kirk immediately. Thank you, Doctor McCoy."

Spock turned on his heels and left.

McCoy let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. He rarely enjoyed being in the same room as the Vulcan, let alone talk to him! All of a sudden McCoy let out a little yelp and jumped forward a bit. He turned, and the squid-man looked at him innocent as ever. But he could have sworn to God it had just…

Impossible. Why would a thing like that…?

Captain Kirk strutted into sick bay. "Mr. Spock tells me you've made some interesting discoveries."

"Ah; yes. Look, Jim, I gotta talk to you about something. You got a moment?"

Kirk nodded and they moved to the adjacent room, far out of hearing range for the squid-man.

"Jim, this is gonna sound like I'm crazy, but I coulda sworn it just…tickled me. After Spock left, when I had my back turned."

Kirk stared blankly at McCoy. "It…tickled…you?"

"Look, Jim, I know it sounds crazy, but I felt it. It touched my side, Jim, it did!"

"Did you see it touch you?"

McCoy paused. "Well, no. I turned around and it just…looked at me. I know the creature is fast and childish, but tickling?..."

Kirk turned to leave. "Well, from what I see, you're in no danger from it. Continue your research and when you're done, we'll return it."

"Wait, Jim."

Kirk froze at the door. McCoy paused.

"…Nevermind. You already think I'm crazy."

"No, no, Bones. Please. Do tell."

"The squid…it has an unnatural…attraction, I s'pose you could say, to Mr. Spock."

Kirk laughed and left.

"Mr. Scott. The creature, Spock, McCoy, and I will be in the transporter room in ten minutes."

"Aye, sir, I'll be there."

The group took their places on the transporter pad.

_It's such an odd feeling, _Kirk thought. _Kinda a tingly feeling, then disorientation, then a nauseous feeling. It's…odd._

McCoy was studying his boots. _Can't wait to get rid of that Godforsaken creature…_

Spock stood stoic. _It seems highly illogical what Kirk said about the creature, about it tickling McCoy. What if it attacks the rest of us? _

The landscape of the squids' planet came into clear view. As soon as the nausea faded, they stepped off the landing spot. The squid-man slithered away to a group of squid-men gathering not so far away. A clicking and sucking sound commenced.

"It has its own language."

_Ah, Kirk, _McCoy rolled his eyes, _ever the Captain—Captain Obvious, that is._

"Perhaps we should try communicating back, Captain." Spock suggested. He pulled out his translator.

"Sure. Good idea, Mr. Spock. After you."

They stepped forward and the group of squid-men scattered.

"We mean you no harm." Spock spoke slowly so the translator could process his words correctly. The squid-men looked fascinated with Spock. They turned back into their circle, but no beeps or sucks were heard.

"It seems they can communicate telepathically too, Captain."

What happened next was a blur.

Tentacles shot out and wrapped around Spock's ankles. He fell, and was dragged to the squid-men. Kirk shot his phaser at the closest squid-man, but stopped McCoy for fear that he would hit Spock. Two squid-men raced towards Kirk and McCoy. The one headed towards Kirk wrapped two tentacles around his legs and attached to the back of his knees. Kirk sank to the ground, laughing, clawing at the appendages. "McCoy!" he choked out.

"I'm a little busy at the moment, Jim!" McCoy was running in a zigzag, dodging the squid-man.

"Call…backup…Bones!...take…comm!" Kirk had tears streaming down his face.

All this while, Spock was watching silently. His arms and legs were bound by two squid-men. _Fascinating, _he thought as he watched his good friend struggling,_ it seems that the squid-men know exactly where their victims' sensitive spots are, and they aim right for them in order to take their victim down as quick as possible._

McCoy had called in the order to the Enterprise and the shapes of Uhura and three security guards were appearing on a hill about 100 meters away. McCoy clambered up the side of a rock ledge but the squid-man wrapped a tentacle around his leg and pulled. McCoy's head smashed against the rock and a stream of blood made its way down the right side of his head. The squids' free tentacle squeezed into McCoy's boot and McCoy was laughing—and helpless—in no time.

Now, Spock had most certainly been ticklish as a child. The question was, whether he had grown out of it as an adult, and as a Vulcan. Spock wasn't sure if he wanted to take that risk or not. But right now, the only logical thing to do was to risk it.

"Captain!"

"Wh...wha…what?!" Kirk looked as if he couldn't breathe.

"I noticed that the aliens cannot jump. If we climb onto the ledge McCoy is near, we may be out of reach of their tentacles. It is our only hope. We do not want the others to be stuck with the same fate as ours. We must take action, Captain."

Uhura, who had been staring dumbfounded at the scene in front of her, overheard Spock's little speech to Kirk. "Set your phasers to stun. O'Brien, aim for the two next to Spock. Johnson, aim for McCoys'. I'll get the Captains'."

Spock was calculating the ways to escape from his captors when phaser beams hit both. The tentacles loosened and he ran. Kirk and McCoy were also freed by the phaser beams and they stumbled along behind Spock. Once at the top of the ledge, McCoy and Kirk were able to catch their breath.

"Goddammit, Spock! Why do these things want you so bad?" McCoy was furious.

But he screamed in terror when a tentacle started to wrap around his ankle. Kirk stomped on it.

"We're not high enough!"

Spock was looking at Uhura and the three redshirts. "Perhaps if we climb up the tree?"

Without so much as thinking it over, Kirk jumped off the ledge and ran to the tree, McCoy hot on his heels. "Up there!" Kirk shouted to Uhura. "Go up the tree!"

Uhura and the redshirts clambered on up. Kirk leaped and barely cleared the first branch. McCoy grabbed the hands of two redshirts who were beckoning him up.

Which only left Spock.

His pale, slender hands grasped the small, tan hands of Kirk just as a tentacle grabbed Spock's leg.

"Spock!" Kirk looked worried as a tentacle disappeared down Spock's boot. Spock, on the other hand, looked relieved.

"Don't worry, Captain. It'll take a lot more than this to take me down. Pull me up."

Kirk tried, but however flimsy those squids looked, they were strong. Spock remained suspended between the ground and the tree.

"Spock's not ticklish?" Uhura whispered to McCoy.

"Not ticklish enough, it seems."

Uhura had to smile at the thought, however serious Spock's predicament might have been.

The squid-men must've realized that they needed a stronger tactic, because another slippery tentacle suctioned itself to the back of Spock's right knee. Spock started to giggle and kick at the squid with his free leg. "Pull me up, Jim!"

"I'm trying!" A grotesque game of tug-of-war was going on between Kirk and the squid-men. "You're slipping, Spock!"

"Don't worry; I won't let go!"

But the squid-men were determined to have Spock. Four more tentacles slid up under Spock's shirt. Kirk saw this and cursed under his breath. Uhura gasped. You could see two pulsing under each of his armpits, and two pulsing on either side of his navel. Now Spock started full-out laughing. Uhura and McCoy exchanged shocked looks.

"I…sorry…can't…hold on!"

McCoy lunged to grab Spock's hands from Kirk but it was too late. Spock had let go.

The squid-men carried Spock, still laughing, away.

"Spock!" Kirk looked devastated. "We need to get him back!"

McCoy placed a heavy hand on Kirk's shoulder. "Jim, it's no use. Let's think of a plan of action before we do anything rash."

Kirk shook him off. "But what if they harm him? We don't know what they want with Spock! What if they kill him? We'd have lost the best first officer the Enterprise has ever known!"

But the group had started to beam up during his outburst.

Saving Spock would have to wait.


	2. Chapter 2

_Captains Log, Stardate 2135.8_

_No sign of Spock. Scotty has been sending search parties down two at a time, but no sign of the squid-men--or our beloved first officer. Doctor McCoy has shut himself in his office, obviously embarrassed by the events of yesterday. My only hope is that he is conjuring up some brilliant idea to make ourselves immune to the squid-men's attacks._

"Bones. Open the door."

Despite Kirk's use of his friends' nickname, he stubborn doctor would not unlock his office door.

"Go away, Jim. I need to think."

"You can think with me in the room with you, Bones! Now open the door."

The door slid open, revealing McCoy's 6'2" frame right behind it. "Is that an order, _sir?_"

"Bones. I realize you may be embarrassed about what happened, but it's okay. You're human; we all have the same weakness. Please, Bones. We need your help to get Spock; I need your help to get Spock."

McCoy harrumphed. "If you want him so badly, why don't you go down there yourself and get him?"

Kirk's calm demeanor started to fray at the edges. "That's what I wanted to do in the first place, Bones! You're the one who advised we come up with a plan first—remember?"

The door to McCoy's office promptly shut in front of Kirk.

"Mr. Spock, we—"

Kirk looked around; no one on the bridge seemed to notice he had just addressed the member of his crew who was currently missing. _Damnit! Where the hell can he be? What'll I do if we don't find him in time?_

"Captain. Receiving some sort of transmission from the planet. Do you wish me to put it on speaker?"

"Yes, Lieutenant Uhura."

A crackling sound immediately filled the bridge. Spock's voice, distant and hoarse, was saying, "Captain, I cannot speak for long. I have built a crude communicator while the squid-men were away. Captain, they're holding me in some sort of underground prison. A cave, perhaps. No bars surround me, but I am chained to the wall. Old-fashioned, so it may seem. But the chain is holding strong. I do not expect to escape."

"Spock, you must hold on—we're coming for you. Tell me how you got to the cave, when the squid-men were carrying you."

"Captain, quite frankly, I do not recall what I passed. I was…distracted. But Captain, do not come after me. They do not just induce a…"

The transmission was lost.

"Do not induce a what?...Spock! Damnit, we lost him!" Kirk sank back into his chair.

Uhura swiveled around to face him. "Sir, I was able to track the signal coming from Spock's communicator."

Kirk sprung up, his face ecstatic. "Give Mr. Scott the coordinates. Tell him myself and Doctor McCoy will be beaming down to those coordinates in…fifteen minutes time."

_I hope fifteen minutes will be enough time to convince Bones._ Kirk entered the lift, grabbed the handle, and said, "Deck 9." The lift started to descend at a rapid pace, the lights of the different decks flashing by quickly. The lift door opened, and Kirk headed down the hall to Bones' office. _Here goes nothing,_ he thought. But no sooner did he reach the door when it opened and McCoy walked briskly out. "Ah, Jim." McCoy talked to Kirk as if nothing had happened between them before. "Thought you'd be coming. Well, let's go. Mr. Scott will be waiting."

"Woah, woah, woah, woah. Bones? What happened? Why the sudden change of mind?"

McCoy rolled his eyes at Jim. "I was listening to the bridge when I heard you say "Mr. Spock." Almost as if you were going to address him. It was then I realized that you were really going to be crushed if we never found Spock. Even if that green-blooded hobgoblin feels nothing towards you, not even friendship, you'd still be upset beyond reason." They started up the lift to the transporter room. "And I'm a doctor, not a psychiatrist. So don't even think about coming to me looking for advice if we find him too late."

Kirk asked him if he had heard Spock's transmission. "Oh, yes. Figures that logical bastard would be able to construct a working communicator in a cave. While being shackled to the wall, nonetheless."

Kirk had to laugh. The lift door opened, and the pair went to the transporter room. Scotty was awaiting them at the control panel. "Do you have the coordinates, Mr. Scott?"

"Aye, sir. We're all ready to beam you down."

"Thank you, Mr. Scott."

Spock had just destroyed the transmitter when two squid-men re-entered the cave. These squid-men had spikes at the ends of their tentacles, compared to their brothers who had spongy tentacles. Almost immediately they started their torture. One spike was jabbed into Spock's right temple, while another stabbed his wrist. Spock screamed at the excruciating pain it was causing him. A bell-like sound filled the room, and the squid men let go of Spock and looked around, clearly confused. Kirk and McCoy materialized in the far corner of the room, and the squid-men disappeared. "Spock!" Kirk started walking towards his first officer.

"No…" Spock could barely talk.

Kirk halted mid-step. "Spock? What's wrong? What have they done to you?"

The squid-men re-appeared and threw themselves at the two trespassers. But McCoy was quick with his phaser and the two squids were killed. McCoy twirled the phaser around his finger and shoved it back into its holster at his side. "You're a regular old cowboy, aren't you, Bones?" Kirk turned back to Spock. "Step away from the wall; make the chain as taut as it can be." Spock obeyed and Kirk shot his phaser at the chain. Nothing happened. He upped the setting and tried again. But the chain stayed connected.

"Damnit! What the hell is this thing made of?" McCoy was obviously losing his patience.

"I already told you, Captain, I had no hopes of escaping. These creatures are obviously better evolved than us—"

"Better evolved? They're squids, for goodness sake!" McCoy turned to Kirk. "Jim, we need to get out of here. Cut the rock that the chain's attached to. We'll figure out how to get Spock out of it later. Who knows when they'll come back?"

Kirk thought for a second. Well, it certainly seemed logical. They would have their first mate back. Surely someone at Starfleet Headquarters would know how to get the chain off….

"Okay, Bones. You win." Kirk started cutting the rock itself, a slow process that had McCoy at his wits' end by the time he finished.

"Beam us up, Mr. Scott. We have Spock."

Spock picked up the chain still attached to his ankle and the three of them were whisked away in time and space, only to materialize back on the Enterprise.

"We still don't know why they want you, Mr. Spock."

Spock cleared his throat. "It appears they were gauging my reactions to different stimuli. First tickling, then extreme cold, then extreme heat, then eventually pain. 'Testing my limits', so you would say."

"But…but why? Why you, Spock? Why not me, or Bones?"

"Because he's a Vulcan, Jim! He's different than us. And Spock being a half-breed, it probably made him an even better candidate for their 'studies'!"

Spock agreed with the Doctor, and requested to return to his room to meditate. Kirk acquiesced to his request, and dismissed McCoy back to his room.

"Lieutenant Uhura, could you contact Starfleet for me? Tell them it is top priority."

"Yes, Captain."

A few minutes later, Uhura called out "Mr. Olsen is waiting on the other end for you, Captain."

Kirk got up from his chair. "You know what, Ms. Uhura? Tell him to hold, I'll talk to him in my room. Patch it down there when I give you the signal."

"Aye, sir."

"Captain Kirk, what is this urgent message you must give to Starfleet Headquarters?"

Kirk considered the question, took a deep breath, and started.


	3. Chapter 3

_Captains Log, Stardate 2135.9_

_Spock has returned to the Enterprise, but not without baggage—he is still attached to the chain the squid-men tied him up to. Our best engineers and technicians have had their try in prying him from its grasp, but to no use. Our only hope is to turn to Starfleet. _

"Now, Admiral Olsen, this is going to sound crazy, but I want you to take it seriously, every word. My crew and I have happened upon a strange planet inhabited by small squid-like men. However, these squid-men are a hostile race. They had a strange fixation on Mr. Spock, and went so far as attacking myself, my crew, and Mr. Spock. He was kidnapped and tortured, in ways neither he nor I wish to disclose right now. But we managed to beam down and get him out relatively safely. He is still attached to the chain which the planets' inhabitants have bound him to, a chain even our best engineers cannot break it. What do you suggest?"

There is only silence on the other end of the radio.

"Admiral Olsen?" Kirk checks the transmission.

"Ah, yes. Captain Kirk? I have checked our databases and matched up your coordinates with all planets in the area, and we do not have any record of life on any of them. What you have come across is either a fairly new species or an old one that has been very, very good at hiding."

"Well, yes, they took Mr. Spock underground—"

"Either way, Captain Kirk, you're going to be on your own with this one. We have no idea what you're up against, and from what it seems, your technology will have the same effect on these chains as our technology. But don't fret—with your reputation, I'm sure you'll find your way out of this easy enough. Good luck."

The bridge was silent, the tension thick enough to slice with a phaser beam.

"Jim, I just had an idea." Bones stood and locked his blue eyes with his friends' brown ones. "What if the actual handcuffs around Spock's wrists are made of a different metal, and can be broken more easily? Maybe that's what the aliens planned. They knew we'd try to cut the chains because there was no keyhole on the wristlets, and so they made the chains unbreakable. Most likely, they figured, we'd leave Spock, so they'd still have their prisoner!"

"That's all well and good, Bones, but how would *they* get him out?"

"Jim, if they have the means to make unbreakable chains, then they have the same means to make metal only their tools, or their tentacles, can open."

"Dr. McCoy, if I remember correctly, you once said this species had very childish minds."

"Well, dammit Spock! I did. But now I'm starting to re-consider that…"

_Beeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeeeeep._

"Your normal…Vulcan heartbeat has slowed considerably," mumbled McCoy as he shuffled around sick bay. He placed an icepack on Spock's head and pressed the intercom button next to the medical screen. "And you've got a raging fever. What the hell did they do to you down—"

"Yes, Bones?" Kirk's voice cackled through the intercom.

"Jim, dammit! This is the third time I've called you. We've an emergency in sick bay."

"In two hours? Two hours. All this took….two hours?"

"Yes, Jim. Two hours. That's what I said."

Spock lay sleeping on the medical bed, his face occasionally twitching from a bad dream.

"And it's getting worse?"

"Mm-hmm. Don't know what's causing it. I would say the squids poisoned him, using that as their next experiment. But I tested the squids' secretions and none of them were toxic."

"To humans, or to humans *and* Vulcans?"

"Spock's half human. He wouldn't be affected like this is it were lethal to Vulcans. He'd get a tummy ache and that's it. But not this. This is different."

They watched their friend in silence. "…The squids were different, Bones. Don't you remember? There were tickling squids and pain squids. What if the pain squids secreted toxin and the tickling squids secreted…I don't know, something different?"

McCoy hemmed and hawed to himself for a bit. "You could be right…but there way in hell I'm going back down there to get a test subject!"

"And I'm not asking you, Bones. We'll figure this out a different way."


	4. Chapter 4

_Captain's Log, Stardate 2136.0_

_Spock's condition is not worsening, nor getting any better. Starfleet has yet to assist. We sit here, waiting. All of us have the same thoughts-what if Starfleet never comes? What if Spock dies? What will become of this hostile race when we leave? What will become of us without Spock?_

"Captain, Dr. McCoy would like to see you in sick bay."

"Thank you, Christine."

The door to sick bay didn't open when Kirk walked up to it.

"Bones! Open up! How's it going in there?"

The door slid open and Kirk stepped in. "Finally! Why did you have this locked?"

Mc Coy was running around the room. "I'm sorry, Jim. I'm awfully busy. Things are getting worse—the shackles are getting tighter and tighter on Spock. I've no idea what's going on. But if we don't get this off soon, dammit, I'm going to have to amputate!"

"Amputate? Is it really that bad?"

Spock gasped and winced. "Another constriction, Doctor." His voice was weak.

"Dammit!"

Kirk placed his hand on Spock's shoulder, a gesture Spock did not shy away from like normal. Kirk spoke softly as McCoy continued to bustle around the room. "Everything is going to be alright, Spock. I'll fix this."

"You haven't tried contacting Starfleet since the first transmission?"

It was more of a statement than a question.

"No. But that was before I knew this thing was getting smaller and smaller. Goddammit, how it that possible? The squids are not even near it to control it!"

"Remember, Jim, they communicated telepathically. Perhaps they can control everything they create telepathically?"

"You're right. I guess the only thing we have to do is to take you back then."

This stopped McCoy in his tracks. He almost dropped the tray he was holding. "Excuse me?"

"Bones, listen. We can't get this off with our technology. The squids can. They had the technology to make it, after all. Spock was right before. These things are obviously better advanced than we are, and it seems they are stopping at nothing to get him back down there. Now, I don't care if it's a trap, and I don't care if you're too embarrassed to go, I'd rather get this thing off him by any means possible than have him lose his leg!"

"It's not happening, Jim. Even if we go back down there, how are we going to tell the squids to free him? How are we going to prevent them from taking him away from us again?"

Kirk had no answer. Instead he stormed out of sick bay. Starfleet wasn't going to blow him off this time.

"Captain Kirk, the only thing I can do is file a report on the incident. You will have to wait."

Kirk slammed his fist into the arm of his chair and let out such a colorful string of curses his crewmembers were glad the Admiral had hung up when he did.

"I won't let him die, dammit!"

Kirk burst into sick bay once more. "I'm beaming down. Alone. Take care of Spock. If I don't return in a few hours, fear the worse. Call up Starfleet, and tell them what happened. Maybe then they'll come to their senses then and help us!"

McCoy didn't argue, but pulled Kirk aside. "Jim, you better hurry. 'Cuz depending on how long you take, and the rate that Starfleet is answering us—plus the rate that Spock's vitals are declining—well, you may be too late."


	5. Chapter 5

_Captain's Log, Stardate 2136.1_

_This is Chief Medical Officer McCoy. Captain Kirk has beamed down onto the alien planet in the hopes of finding some way to get the ever-tightening handcuffs off of Spock. _

Kirk's voice was no more than a whisper. "Kirk to Enterprise, come in please! Kirk to Enterprise!"

Uhura wasn't answering. _This…is not good._

Hundreds of little squid-men were roaming the corridors of their main control center. A few of the squid-men seemed to be more, well, distressed than the others—probably because of Spock's disappearance.

_But_, Kirk thought, _they're still in control of their prisoner, tightening Spock's handcuffs. So why would they be upset about him simply not being in his cell?_

Kirk darted from one colorful plant to the next. They were large enough to cover his entire body, but the squids were distracted enough that Kirk could've probably just traipsed right into the main room they were all coming from. But he didn't want a repeat of his first time down on the planet—he twitched at the memory—so he wasn't taking any chances.

The door he finally entered through opened to a bigger room consisting of five other doors. He chose the one least entered by the squids—surely it was meant for only those who had special access; he would get his answers here.

Kirk was correct; a large squid-man sat on a peculiar throne, one that was equipped with a screen and some kind of microphone device that had a wire which seemed to attach to the back of the squid's head.

The King-squid was flanked by two other squids—guards, Kirk assumed—who, upon seeing Kirk, shot out their tentacles. He barely had time to brace himself for the horrible feeling that overcame him as eight tentacles attached to the most sensitive areas of his body. Luckily, it only lasted for a second because a monotone voice rang out inside the chamber:

"LEAVE HIM."

The guard squids stopped, and the King-squid spoke again.

"I KNOW WHY YOU ARE HERE."

"Do you?" Kirk was wary. His eyes were on the guard squids.

"YOU WANT OUR SHACKLES REMOVED FROM YOUR FRIEND."

Kirk put on his most charming smile. "And you can help me with that?"

"THE ONLY WAY WE CAN HELP YOU IS IF YOU BRING HIM BACK HERE."

Kirk started. "Wh—what? No! Spock is a Starfleet officer, you can't have him!"

"YOU HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE."

The guard squids grabbed Kirk, not tickling this time, and escorted him back to the planets' surface.

"So…you're telling me we need to hand Spock over to get him free?"

"That's what it said, Bones."

McCoy harrumphed. "Bull. Shit. They're lying Jim, they just want their…their 'plaything' back!"

"Not exactly, Bones." Kirk rubbed his head. "I read the screens in the main center as I was sneaking around. They showed how the shackles worked."

"Then we can get them off!"

Kirk was uncomfortably silent. "…Not exactly. See, the shackles are built to tighten automatically if a prisoner leaves the designated area they're supposed to be in. There is also a tracking device in them, so when the prisoner becomes too weak to travel, the squids find them and take them back. Once re-contained, the shackles loosen. Spock is too far away for them to retrieve, so the shackles keep tightening. We have no choice but to bring him back, Bones."

"You know what'll happen though, dont'cha? They'll take him away and keep experimenting on him! They'll kill him!"

"But they won't hurt him while he's healing, Bones. Right? They'll want a healthy subject for their research. Maybe they'll take the shackles off during that time and we can take him!"

McCoy still wasn't persuaded. "And if not?"

Kirk sighed. "It'll at least buy us some time until Starfleet answers us."

Kirk was back in the Kings' chamber. "So do we have ourselves a deal?"

"YES. WE WILL WAIT TO CONTINUE OUR RESEARCH UNTIL THE SUBJECT IS FULLY HEALED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION, CAPTAIN KIRK. YOU ARE DOING A GREAT SERVICE TO OUR PLANET."

"How long do you think it'll take?"

"A week, maybe two?"

"Plenty of time to come up with a rescue plan!"

"Sure, Jim."

Jim sat on McCoy's desk. "You don't think so?"

"I'm not sure. What if they can speed up the process of healing? We don't know what these things are capable of, Jim. It is a remarkable race."

"I trust you, Bones. And I trust the rest of my crew. We'll get Spock. We will."

Kirk looked down at his boots and repeated that under his breath one more time, still unsure of whether he believed it or not. He slapped McCoy on the shoulder and left Sick Bay, just in time to hide the single tear that started to roll down his cheek.


End file.
